


I hear you

by A Caffeinated Crisis (TabbbyWright)



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 13:42:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18942151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TabbbyWright/pseuds/A%20Caffeinated%20Crisis
Summary: It was amazing how much humans said without ever opening their mouths--It was amazing how much they said in between their spoken words.





	I hear you

There was something fascinating about humans, their tenderness, the way they used their bodies to speak volumes about their feelings without uttering a sound. Ai didn't know initially what to think of it when he watched dramas with Roboppi, and how there was so much weight put into a single touch, so many things left unsaid. Why not just say what you were thinking? Humans surely couldn't read each others’ minds, right? It seemed unnecessary, when you wanted to be truthful and not lie. Humans were strange. 

Ai learned though, with Yusaku, that the way humans moved their bodies instead of their mouths was just another language, another way of communicating, and saying things that couldn't be said. He watched the way Yusaku didn't approach anyone at school, the way he stiffened just a little when someone that wasn't Shima spoke to him. Yusaku said he just didn't care for people, didn't want to stand out, didn't want to be noticed, didn't see a point. Ai could accept this at the time, but the way he handled Akira was blockades of ice and carefully constructed dialogue: reveal only enough to make him  _ understand _ but not so much that you're  _ vulnerable. _ It was enough to click into place that whether Yusaku realized it or not, there was anxiety in interacting with people. In Ai's conception, where Ai had no trouble being close with his friends, even as he got on their nerves, Yusaku didn't have friends, couldn't have friends, couldn't connect with people, was afraid to try again, even a decade after the damage was done. 

Yusaku's fear was something Ai took upon himself to recognize after that and fully understand, mostly because he wasn't sure Yusaku realized it himself. Ai's creation took so much from Yusaku, the least he could do was look after him. He wanted Yusaku to be able to make those connections, to recognize that he had connected to Kusanagi; to recognize that despite sharp edges and cold words, insistence that there wasn't anything between them, he had connected with Ai too. 

It was amazing how much humans said without ever opening their mouths--It was amazing how much they said in between their spoken words. 

Ai couldn't isolate the moment where he stopped thinking of Yusaku as just his Origin, began thinking of him as a friend; he couldn't isolate the moment where he stopped thinking of Yusaku as just a friend and wanted to be his  _ partner. _ It was in between moments and the culmination of many, it wasn't as simple as flipping a switch, it wasn't as simple as changing a variable in his layers of programming from zero to one. If this, then that, then this, on and on and on, a path Ai couldn't trace.

The relief, happiness, confusion and excitement when Ai saw Flame with Takeru was the exact opposite of Yusaku, the way he threw up his walls, didn't trust Takeru at all at first. Ai could feel him ease up though, noticed how he was distracted through the day afterwards. Maybe Yusaku could connect better with someone who also had an ignis? Someone who had been through what he had? 

_ "You can call him Yusaku! Right Yusaku?" _

_ "Sure. _ "

Ai clung onto that tiny spark of hope he felt in Yusaku, desperately pushed them together. Takeru was so friendly, so bright, Yusaku wouldn't have such a minefield to navigate, and maybe Takeru wouldn't think twice about how awkward Yusaku could be. If they could understand each other, if they liked each other, then they could connect, then they'd be  _ friends. _ Simple! 

There was danger in connections of course, to have them severed  _ hurt _ , to care and lose someone you cared about  _ hurt _ , but it was worth it, Ai was sure. Losing his friends hurt, but Yusaku was able to save everyone else, and that wouldn't have been possible without all those connections existing. Going to rescue his friends, finding out he couldn't, the things that connected them were in that moment palpable and invisible. 

Maybe Ai had been wrong about humans being strange for their silent language. The Ignis did it too--were they always like that, or did they learn from their Origins? 

Ai wanted to speak to Yusaku without saying anything, he wanted Yusaku to know, to really,  _ really _ understand that they were connected. He wanted Yusaku to feel it in his heart the way Ai felt it in his. He wanted to use this connection of theirs to say things Ai didn't know how to put into words. 

When they came home from the fight and Yusaku was so tired, so relieved but emotionally drained all the same, Ai freed himself from the duel disk even though he was even smaller than usual, pressed his hands against Yusaku's lips, too small to hug his face like he wanted to. 

"I'm not going anywhere." He said, focusing on Yusaku's exhausted eyes, the way he so clearly wanted to sleep but something gnawed at the edges of his being, ate at his nerves, wouldn't let him. Yusaku looked away, sighed, blasting Ai with cool air from his nose and nearly knocking him back. 

"Hey!" 

"You're fine." 

"What if I wasn't?!" He floated back from Yusaku's face, crossed his arms indignantly, felt something unknown inside of him relax when Yusaku smiled. 

"I'm confident in your durability." He said, cupping his hands under Ai. The ignis settled onto them, quite pleased. 

"Onwards, noble steed!" 

Yusaku rolled his eyes, set Ai on his pillow and crawled into bed after him. Even as he flopped onto the mattress as though he didn't care, he was careful not to jostle Ai too much, careful not to squash him either. 

Ai wasn't worried about being squished though. He didn't have real organs to worry about, after all. He slid down the pillow, slipped under the covers, pressed against Yusaku's chest, felt his heartbeat pulse. 

"That seems dangerous." 

"The amazing Ai will not be so easily defeated by the likes of you! It's not like you weigh enough to hurt me anyway." 

"Is that so?"

Yusaku cupped a hand around Ai and the Ignis closed his eyes, feeling as Yusaku's breathing slowly evened out. With every breath, with how quickly Yusaku fell asleep, Ai felt, Ai listened, Ai heard what Yusaku didn’t say.

Ai wondered if Yusaku understood that Ai would protect him, do anything to keep him safe. He wondered if even though he didn’t have a heart, that Yusaku knew that Ai was full of love for Yusaku. 

Ai wondered if ever it needed to be said at all. 


End file.
